Town Mayor Walks to raise funds for the Uppingham Hopper Bus
Uppingham Town Council Mayor Cllr Alec Crombie, MBE intends to mark the end of his term of office by undertaking a sponsored walk in order to raise money to support the Uppingham Hopper Bus. The Hopper Bus concept was originally the subject of a successful pilot scheme that came to an end in 2016. Since that time there has been an on-going fund raising effort to provide a permanent Hopper Bus for Uppingham and now with the help of an interest free loan from Rutland County Council a new Hopper Bus has been purchased and will enter service from the end of April 2018.
Obviously this loan needs repaying and the bus service (which will be offered free to local residents) will having running costs that need to be covered albeit that the service will be operated by a group of volunteer drivers.
Mayor Alec said “With the help of my trusty guides I will be setting off from Uppingham Market Place at 2pm on Sunday April 22nd to navigate the boundaries of our town and you are all welcome to see me off or indeed walk with me and raise your own sponsorship”.
Alec is suggesting that for each complete circuit walked a donation of £5 would be appropriate, so therefore £10 for two circuits and £15 for three, although he will be grateful for whatever residents feel able to give. He went on to say “As a single circuit is roughly 5 kilometres you may say where is the challenge? OK, but as most of you know, I am rising 75 years of age and I am totally blind. The Hopper is a much needed facility for our citizens so please support its comeback”.
Donations can be made directly to the HSBC Oakham sort code 40-45-03 “Uppingham Neighbourhood Forum” account number 31265776 or hand your cheque into the Falcon Hotel. Any enquiries can be directed to Dave Ainslie on 01572 821232.
Thank you for helping to save this important service.
